Fresh from signing the Kyoto Protocol, warding off Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, saying sorry to the stolen generations and doing just about everything his predecessor, John Howard, failed to do in four terms in office, Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has lent his bookish gravitas to an official bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Rudd has been assiduously building his "sportsman" credentials of late, notably being pictured throwing the arm over in an impromptu cricket match at Parliament House in Canberra and then appearing alongside Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy at last Sunday's A-League grand final. Getting behind a World Cup bid is by far and away Rudd's biggest play in sport so far, yet speculation is rife that privately the FFA knows it has no chance of nabbing The Big One in 2018 and is instead using the bid to make a solid impression for a tilt at 2022. The fact of the matter is Australia, despite being talked up in some quarters as a possible stand-in host for South Africa 2010 should the Africans fail to get their act together, has a long way to go before it can hope to host an event of such magnitude. There are very few suitable football stadia currently built and operational, training facilities are thin on the ground (even now for the Socceroos) and, as anyone will tell you who has had the misfortune of braving its CityRail network, public transport in Australia's biggest metropolis, Sydney, is appallingly bad. Any World Cup bid is going to require a massive injection of capital and a hell of a lot of groundwork. But with Labor governments installed in all Australian states, the prospects for cooperation are good. Even the AFL, Australia's biggest sport, has given the World Cup bid its support. "We're not sure of what it might mean for us yet, nobody's spoken to us about that, so we'll just wait and see if there are any proposed implications for us," said AFL operations manager Adrian Anderson. Well, Adrian, Soccerphile can start by saying the AFL won't know what hit it when the World Cup comes to town. The locals' knowledge of the event needs some improving, though. In announcing the news, a Sydney radio station declared Melbourne would even "share" the event with its northern cousin, oblivious to the fact that a World Cup is a multi-city event. This is not the Olympics, folks. The biggest mitigating factor against a 2018 World Cup in Australia, of course, is the fact Europe will have not played host for 12 years, an eternity in football politics and about as realistic a prospect as Harold Holt emerging from his 41-year dip in the waters off Portsea. The frontrunner at the present time appears to be England, with Portugal/Spain a close second. Sydney 2000 might have been the most successful Olympics ever, but when it comes to truly big football events the FIFA Congress in May and a likely Asian Cup in 2015 will have to suffice till 2022 rolls around. © Jesse Fink & Soccerphile.com Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football A-League Australia World Cup 2018

If you think Alex Ferguson was pissed the last time Real Madrid were making headlines trying to tempt winger Cristiano Ronaldo away from Manchester United, then he will go red when he hears about their latest tactics. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon is all over the Spanish media telling anyone that will listen that he still has a chance to sign his dream-boat. And this time we are not talking huge transfer fees, the latest attempt to lure Ronaldo will go right to his pocketbook in the way of making him the highest paid player in the world. To fuel speculation, Jorge Mendes who is Ronaldo’s agent, has been meeting with Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic. While he claims its for other matters, don’t believe it. Real have a history of destabilizing players thru the media and the love affair with Ronaldo has not lasted the better part of 3 years. Let's just say the meeting wasn't exactly private. The proposed salary: over 8m pounds per year, and with income tax in Spain about half that of England it would roughly equal 200,000 pounds a week were he being paid within the Premier League. Ronaldo has scored a whopping 29 goals this season for United and signed a new 120,000 pound a week deal for 5 years. It’s more than likely that Mendes is trying to renegotiate terms and squeeze a few more quid out of Old Trafford, and why not? A winger that can score 30 goals in a season should be the highest paid player in the world. At the moment Brazilian international Kaka is the highest paid player in the world, where AC Milan shell out 130,000 pounds a week. I doubt Ronaldo would like to leave, I would imagine Manchester making him top of the salary heap will quiet Madrid.

Robbie Savage has provoked an angry reaction from teammates at Derby County after showing up to training in a brand new 160,000 pound Mercedes Benz. Savage is entitled to drive whatever he likes, but will almost certainly be dropped against Sunderland this weekend after failing to register any impact whatsoever at his new club –that is except to raise the sunglasses of the other players as theymake a double take at his new wheels. Savage arrived from Blackburn Rovers for 1.5m pounds in the January transfer window and has been in poor form as Derby, with just nine points and a single win, are likely to go lower than the 15 points Sunderland scored back in 2003. Savage will be showing his flash ride in the Championship next season, that you can take to the bank.

The Leap Year means one whole extra Daily Dose in the month of February. Happy day. So here are the football links from around World Cup Blog, from over at The Offside (click that one if you want in on the FIFA 08 tournament) and other fine web-based football news. Player ratings from Poland 2-0 Estonia [...]

Things are looking up a little for everyone involved in the Eduardo incident. Eduardo himself is out of hospital and expected to make a full recovery. Even Martin Taylor has turned the tide of public opinion. And now the Croatian FA are suggesting that Eduardo could join the team at Euro 2008 this summer. He won’t [...]

Chelsea manager Avram Grant has hit out at the media for its post defeat coverage of their Carling Cup final to Tottenham. Strangely, he hit out at the lack of respect for giving him no credit for achievements. What achievements Avram? I thought you lost, and as of yet, have won nothing. What have you achieved? I think the media has fairly given you credit for stabilizing the team, but more than that there is nothing to show that you are actually up to the job. While Grant insists that he is in charge, there is no doubt that the hand of Abramovich has played a heavy hand in the running of the club.

At first I was hugely skeptical. I mean, the Euros are a pretty big deal. Not only that but they’re, you know, European. (Feel free to send that brilliant revelation right there to the awards committees.) However, the more time passed, the more I realized this is an absolute stroke of genius move from the [...]

A survey came out today that publishes a list of the highest paid footballers in the world. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all represent the Premiership and dominate the list while AC Milan and Barcelona are the only non-English sides listed. It certainly appears the money is in England now. The list in order: 1. Kaka (AC Milan) 6.6m pounds 2. Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 6.31m pounds 3. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 6.04m pounds 4. John Terry (Chelsea) 6.04m pounds 5. Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 5.86m pounds 6. Andiry Shevchenko (Chelsea) 5.77m pounds 7. Michael Ballack (Chelsea) 5.77m pounds 8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) 5.69m pounds 9. Theirry Henry (Barcelona) 5.69m pounds 10. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 5.69m pounds